Combination-tool



fie Model.)

W TOPLIFF COMBINATION TOOL.

No. 559,231. PatentedApr. 28, 1896.

l/VI/E/VTGI? ATTORNEYS WITNESSES:

ANDREW EGNMQAM. PHOTOUTNQWASHINGYONJC UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

\VILLARD TOPLIFF, O-F YOUNGS, NElV YORK.

COMBINATION-TOOL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 559,231, dated April 28, 1896. Application filed January 31, 1896. Serial No. 577,515. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLARD TOPLIFF, of Youn gs, in the county of Delaware and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Combination-Tool, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to certain improvements in combination-tools, and has for its object to provide a device of this character of a simple and inexpensive nature which shall combine the features of an ordinary trysquare or the like with a weather-board gage, the improved device being thereby adapted for use by carpenters either as a square or gage.

The invention consists in a device of this character comprising a blade which may be the blade of a try-square or the like and a clip having means for detachably holding it to the end of the blade and provided with a projecting portion adapted to form a stop to engage the weather-board and gage the position of the same.

The invention also contemplates certain novel features of the construction, combination, and arrangement of the various parts of the improved tool whereby certain important advantages are attained and the device is made simpler, cheaper, and otherwise better adapted and more convenient for use than various other similar devices heretofore employed, all as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The novel features of the invention will be carefully defined in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a View drawn to a small scale and showing the improved tool in use on a weather-board gage. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the tool. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the clip disengaged from the blade of the device. Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken through the clip and showing the means for securing it detachably to the blade, and Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken through the blade and clip in the plane indicated by the line a a in Fig. 2.

In the views, 1 indicates the body of the tool with which the improved weather-board gage is combined, this tool being, as herein shown, a carpenters ordinary try-square, the said body being provided at one end with shoulders 2, projecting from its opposite sides, and 3 indicates the blade of the square,which may be provided with grad nations in the usual way. The blade 3 is of thin flat metal and may be conveniently made of sheet-steel.

At the free end of the blade 3 is formed an opening 4:, extending through the blade and adapted to be engaged by a spring-catch 5, struck up from one side 6 of the clip, the said sides 6 being bent parallel with each other and adapted to closely fit against the opposite sides of the blade 3, as clearly indicated in Fig. 5. 8 indicates the body portion of the clip, extending at right angles to the blade 3 and also to the sides 6, and connected to said sides by bent portions 7, as clearly shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 5. At opposite sides of the central or body portion 8 of the clip are formed slots or recesses 9, adapted to be engaged by the opposite edges of the end of the blade 3, said blade being formed at its end, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4, with a central recess 11 to receive the central portion 8 of the clip, whereby at the opposite corners of said end of the blade 3 projecting lugs 10 are formed to engage the said recesses 9. By this construction it will be seen that the clip may be readily connected to the blade 3 of the tool by placing the end of said blade between the sides or arms 6 of the clip and forcing said clip on the blade until the spring-catch 5 enters the opening 4 in the blade, the projections 10 011 the end of the blade being then engaged with the notches or recesses 9 at opposite sides of the central portion of the clip, whereby said clip will be securely held in place on the end of the blade.

When it is desired to detach the clip from the end of the blade, it is only necessary to slightly separate the arms or sides 6 of the clip, so as to disengage the catch 5 from the opening 4:, and this separation of the arms 6 may be effected by pressing with the fingers on opposite sides of the projecting end portions of the clip.

WVhen it is desired to use the improved tool as an ordinary try-square, the clip may be readily detached therefrom, as will be obvious from the above description, and when it is desired to use the tool as a wcather-board gage the clip will be applied to the blade 3 and the projecting end portions of the said clip will form stops to be engaged by the edges of the weather-board or siding, so as to accurately gage the position of the same.

It will be seen from the above description that the improved device is of an extremely simple and inexpensive nature and is well adapted for the purposes for which it is intended, and it will also be obvious that the same is susceptible of considerable modification without material departure from the principles and spirit of the invention, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the exact form of the parts herein set forth.

Ilavin g thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In atool, the combination of a blade having an aperture and having its end recessed at its central portion, whereby lugs are formed at the opposite corners at the end of the blade, and a clip comprising a body portion and arms arranged to engage the opposite sides of the blade, said body portion extending at right angles across the end of the blade and having notches formed at its opposite sides to receive the lugs at the opposite corners of the end of the blade, one arm of the clip being provided with a catch to engage the aperture in the blade, substantially as set forth.

2. A tool having a blade formed with a recess and a clip having two arms, one of which is provided with a projection capable of engagement with the recess and the arms being attached to outwardly-extending side portions connected by a central or body portion, said central or body portion engaging an edge of the blade so as to form a fulcrum on which the arms may be moved, substantially as described.

3. A tool having a blade formed with a recess and a clip having two arms one of which tached to an outwardly-extending side por tion and the side portions being connected by a central portion, said central portion fitting within the notch in the end of the blade and bearing against the blade at said points to form a fulcrum on which the arms may be moved, substantially as described.

5. A tool having a blade formed with a recess and a clip having an arm with a projection capable of automatically moving into the recess, the clip also having a part engaging the blade so as to form a fulcrum on which the arm may be moved away from the blade, substantially as described.

WILLARD TOPLIFF. lVitnesses:

EBEN W. LONG, GEORGE E. DEWEY. 

